Stone Age

Stone Age: see Paleolithic period; Mesolithic period; Neolithic period.

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Stone Age

First known period of prehistoric human culture, characterized by the use of stone tools. The term is little used by specialists today. See Paleolithic Period; Mesolithic Period; Neolithic Period; stone-tool industry. See also Bronze Age; Iron Age.

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Stone Age

a period in human culture identified by the use of stone implements and usually divided into the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic stages

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(jargon)

Stone Age - In computer folklore, an ill-defined period from ENIAC (ca. 1943) to the mid-1950s; the great age of electromechanical dinosaurs. Sometimes used for the entire period up to 1960-61 (see Iron Age); however, it is more descriptive to characterise the latter period in terms of a "Bronze Age" era of transistor-logic, pre-ferrite core memory machines with drum or CRT mass storage (as opposed to just mercury delay lines and/or relays). More generally, the term is used pejoratively for ancient hardware or software, even by survivors from the Stone Age.